Lack of funding forces Detroit Kennel Club to cancel dog shows

Oct. 17, 2013

Golden retrievers stand while getting groomed by their owners and handlers before going off for show during the 110th Detroit Kennel Club Dog Show at Cobo Center in Detroit on March 2. / Eric Seals/Detroit Free Press

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Detroit Free Press Staff Writer

For the first time in its 98-year history, the Detroit Kennel Club’s annual dog shows, set for March, has been canceled because there are not enough sponsors to support it.

“We did everything humanly possible to come up with sponsorships,” said club spokeswoman Kirsten Borgstrom. “People are upset. We’ve had generations of families who have shown their dogs — grandparents, parents and now the kids.”

The Detroit Kennel Club has held dog shows since 1916. The shows, held at Cobo Center, typically draw 2,000 pooches. But three years ago, Purina, the dog food company, withdrew it sponsorship, and the kennel club has struggled to find new sponsors. “We beat the bushes quite a bit,” said show chairman Richard Ford. The club even hired professional fund-raisers to solicit sponsors and approached several wealthy Detroiters looking for help.

“It just wasn’t there,” Ford said. Ford declined to say what the shows cost, and how much additional sponsorship is needed. He said the club will continue to seek sponsors and hopes to hold a show the following year, perhaps in a different venue.